The term "Kill Chain Methodology" or "Cyber Kill Chain" has been widely used in the world of cybersecurity to interpret the different stages involved in a cyberattack. This term was originally coined by the military to define the steps used by an attacker to reach the intended target (Spitzner, 2019). However, in 2011, Lockheed Martin released an insightful paper on Kill Chain about cybersecurity (Hutchins, Cloppert & Amin, 2011). This article addresses the need to understand each step an adversary takes so that attacks can be disrupted or stopped right in their tracks. In a nutshell, from a hacker's perspective, a kill chain is a way to illegally gain access to a network or network device via a series of progressive steps. Consequently, from a defender's perspective, every stage of this process presents an opportunity to prevent intrusions.
So, what kind of systems, networks or devices can hackers exploit by employing this methodology? The answer is simple: as far your imagination is willing to take you! A recent documentary called “Kill Chain” is predicting that even the 2020 U.S. elections are at risk of falling prey to this methodology.